The match between San Ġiljan All Care Insurance and Sliema Frank Salt Real Estate yesterday resulted in a tense duel replete with strong arm fare and a host of expulsions.

After their slip against Sirens Ritter Sport the previous week, the Blues edged their hitherto unbeaten opponents to bounce back and revive hopes of securing a berth in the top pool and a subsequent challenge for the title.

No quarter was given as marking was very tight, with only the players in the five and six positions enjoying some moments of respite when there was quick double shielding on the respective centres.

The Blues opted for Ivan Basara instead of Tim Hutten and the ploy proved successful as he scored a hat-trick, two goals from him coming in a crucial last session to overturn the Saints’ 8-7 lead before John Soler scored the winner with a lob two-and-a-half minutes from the end.

It had been a tit-for-tat contest with San Ġiljan conducting the early scoreline only for Sliema to hit back to lead 7-5 in the third session before their opponents levelled matters with the last session to go.

The final moments were ex-tremely exciting as tempers frayed, with a couple of Saints’ players showing strong disapproval at one of the referees’ decisions at the end of the match.

The previous match saw Neptunes Grimaldi getting back into their slick form to beat Sirens hands down, with Steve Camilleri hitting six goals followed by four from the authoritative Peter Biros.

Coach Sergey Markoch realised that Sirens’ shock victory over Sliema seven days before warranted strong tactical attention from his lads.

They obliged with some vintage fare evident during long stretches as their movement and blocking on their opponents’ foreign players dismantled Bogdan Rath’s tactics.

As a result of Sliema’s win over San Ġiljan in the subsequent match, the Balluta Bay Reds have now taken pole position in the race for the Premier League title.

The opening clash of the day resulted in a ten-all draw between Marsascala Mor€ and Otters Nivea.

The outcome meant that the Gozitan team retained their position at the top of the First Division table, two points above their opponents from the south.

Otters, for whom Ivan Vuksano-vic netted four goals, always chased the scoreline except for their opening goal. But the gap was never beyond two goals, with Paul Dimech’s team winning the last session 3-1 to make it ten all.

Summaries

Marsascala 10
Otters 10

(3-2, 3-2, 3-3, 1-3)

Marsascala: D. Spiteri, M. Pace, S. Mora 3, C. Bonello, E. Meli, L. Grixti 1, K. Rizzo Naudi, J. Cremona 3, S. Micallef, C. Mifsud, D. Cassar 1, G. Marnitz 2, J. Cremona.

Otters: J. Micallef, G. Attard, G. Zammit, K. Scicluna, R. Bonnici, M. Dimech, J. Paris 1, D. Schembri 2, A. Edward 1, S. Dimech 1, C. Martin, I. Vuksanovic 4, K. Grima Scott 1.

Referees: P. Giordano, L. Castagnol.

Sirens 10
Neptunes 17

(4-7, 2-2, 3-5, 1-3)

Sirens: N. Grixti, Z. Mizzi, C. Presciutti 3, G. Pace 2, M. Grech, C. Kiss 2, M. Caruana, D. Cutajar 1, J. Napier, E. Aquilina 1, L. Caruana, A. Sammut, M. Pisani 1.

Neptunes Grimaldi: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon 1, G. Mizzi, M. Stellini 3, T. Agius, M. Zammit, S. Camilleri 6, J. Camilleri, A. Zarb Cousin, P. Biros 4, B. Muscat Dougall, T. Molnar 2, C. Mercieca 1.

Referees: M. Angileri, A. Sgarra.

San Ġiljan 9
Sliema 10

(2-1, 2-3, 3-3, 2-3)

San Ġiljan: D. Camilleri, C. Spiteri DeBarro, A. Galea, Karl Galea 1, K. Dowling, M. Zammit 1, A. Radovic 2, A. Bianchi, Keith Galea, Z. Kovacic 2, P. Fava 1, D. Zammit 2, J. Sammut.

Sliema: R. Coleiro, J. Gabarretta 3, N. Lubrano, T. Sullivan, M. Meli 1, J. Soler 1, J. Borg, C. Cluett, J. Brownrigg 1, A. Attard, I. Basara 3, A. Petkovic 1, K. Schembri.

Referees: P. Balzan, L. Castagnol.

Premier League

First Division